the emperor has no clothes
If you are a fan of the “All-America” title which Richmond, Indiana, has apparently just won, you won’t like what I have to say about that here. You are fairly warned. Read on if you wish.
This past weekend, a group of eager “youth” traveled to the National Civic League (NCL) competition in Tampa, Florida, as designated finalists in the running for an “All-America” city title. Apparently, the kids impressed the judges with their enthusiasm, honesty, and charm. I admire those kids for being eager, brave, and doing their best to promote Richmond. Good job. And I mean that.
Call me cynical, however, but I fail to see what having an “All America” title will do for Richmond. The city won the award 22 years ago, too, the trusty Palladium-Item tells us. Uh huh. That’s nice. And in those 22 years, how have we done? I offer a few numbers, which I imagine if you are a local reader, you know well:54% graduation rate in the high school in 2006; 76% “estimated” for this year. 11.9% unemployment rate. That’s enough right there to say we are not a healthy place.
So now we’re an All-America city again? Here’s what the NCL says winning the award will do:
All-America City Award is America’s original and most prestigious community recognition award. Since 1949, the Award has honored communities of all sizes (cities, towns, counties, neighborhoods and regions) where community members, government, businesses and nonprofit organizations work together to address critical local issues. More than 500 communities have earned this distinguished title and many have earned it more than once.
If your community works collaboratively to overcome local challenges, it could become an All-America City. The application process alone represents a valuable opportunity to evaluate the way your community manages opportunities and challenges, which can make your community stronger. Communities that earn the All-America City title realize numerous benefits, including:
Local, state, and national recognition
Greater civic pride and greater civic collaboration
Economic stimulus
I see, in the near future, a parade (yes, there is one, Monday at 11 a.m.). I see letters to the editor filled with civic pride. I see community gatherings to plan strategically, brainstorm collaboratively, problem-solve creatively. I see t-shirts. Bumper stickers. A new coat of paint on the water tower. Maybe a community garden. A downtown festival. I see a lot of enthusiasm and energy invested in a smattering of projects across the city that enable the participants to feel good about themselves and the work they are doing to make Richmond a little better here and there.
And then?
That’s it. Nothing. This title, for all the work and investment and energy these kids and community “leaders” have put into it, it’s pure air. It changes nothing on a substantive, fundamental level.
Yet, our self-designated, and sometimes elected, community leaders will tell us, and tell our kids, that this title means we are something. That we will be something. That if we “work together” we can be — no, wait — we are terrific.
I would like to take the community leaders aside and say this: Look. Quit lying to our kids. Quit filling their heads with boosterish nonsense. Quit leading them on these exhausting exercises which result in virtually nothing.
I would also challenge those leaders to take on the hard stuff. Those are good, good kids they took to Tampa, Florida. That’s the easy job. What about the not so good kids? What about the 46% that didn’t graduate? Are you working with them? Are you going to one of the many many bars in Richmond on any given afternoon or evening and talking to the people who spend their time there? Your clothes will stink of smoke and you will get an earful. Can you handle that? Are you enlisting drug addicts and the homeless and dropouts and the illiterate and teenage mothers and the little kids who eat free and reduced lunches every day to be part of your strategic planning, your creative brainstorming, your leadership exercises?
Are you?
If you are not, then you are not what I ever want to call a leader.
June 20th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Color me cynical as well, but the unemployment rate and poor state of public education isn’t exactly exclusive to Richmond — maybe that makes us more qualified to be the all-american city. I don’t know.
There was a NYC Police Chief (William Bratton) that had this plan back in the late 90s — he would have his officers start cracking down on the little crimes (vandalism, petty theft, jaywalking, etc.), with the intent that stopping little crimes should help subvert the development into bigger crimes. This idea stemmed from criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling idea called the “broken window theory”. (Because a broken window suggests that the building is forgotten or uncared about and attracts a criminal element — minor nuisances lead to bigger nuisances)
(a good portion of that last paragraph is from Steven J Leavitt’s book “Freakonomics” — pardon my word theft.)
Granted, there WAS a decline in crime during that period, but it may not be wholly attributable to the broken window approach.
ANYWAYS — I am going somewhere with this. I think that if we’re going to improve things in this town, it needs to start with the SMALL things. I’m sure you know that Melissa and I are avid gardeners — our neighbors and my in-laws have both been inspired by our garden and have planted gardens themselves. I’ve been biking to work and I’ve had 2 or 3 other people tell me they plan to start doing so too, having seen me do it.
It’s like that hackneyed Ghandi quote “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
I’m not sure how to apply this to the failed public schools around here — I think a lot of the problem me be administrative, based on what I’ve heard from RHS grads. I think the “Literacy through photography” program you did with Natalie was terrific; perhaps more things like that will help.
I worked in the municipal gov’t for about 2 years and even though I have a lot of respect for many of the people, I wouldn’t hold my breath for them to fix things. If this town is turned around, it’s going to be because citizen activists that inspire other people to change. (IMHO)
*off soapbox*
June 20th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Jean,
Thanks for putting out some challenging thoughts about this award news.
I’ve been cogitating on similar ideas for a while now, and while I share your concern that the return on investment for this effort might not be justifiable, I’m not sure I can follow you all the way to the point of calling it lying to the youth involved, or to saying that a community improvement effort that doesn’t necessarily directly engage the homeless is one to eschew.
This comes from my general philosophy of community improvement, which I think fellow commenter Aaron touched on: “There is no one right way to make Richmond a better place.” That is, it just won’t work to say that there’s a single plan of action for helping this community solve all of its problems, and then execute it and hope for the best on the other side.
We *do* need to engage all of the disenfranchised populations you talked about, and re-think our education system and notions of meaningful employment. But we also need the rallying and the parades and the vague award titles and the hype. We need all of it, and we need anyone who has a bit of passion and energy for this place to manifest their care in whatever way they think they can bring the most to the rest of us.
Richmond has suffered recently, I think, at the hands of those who preach homogeneity and “one right way, there is no alternative” when it comes to community improvement and economic development. So I just can’t begrudge the successes of someone who is willing to say “well, what if we try something else? What if we go a different direction and see what happens?” I may have serious concerns about their particular choice of direction (as I do in this case), but until there are more people taking Richmond’s future into their own hands, until there are so many “shovel-ready, high-impact” projects for people to plug into that we don’t know where to start, I don’t think we have the luxury of criticizing those who are making a go of it in their own way.
Even with limited resources, even knowing there are those with clear and pressing daily needs that are not being met, I still think there’s value in diversity of approach. We don’t know what might spark the kinds of revival and rejuvenation that really will make a big difference.
Thanks again for calling us all out on this, not allowing for unquestioned or unconditional glee when we know reality demands more of us.
Chris
June 20th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
What’s in a name: All-America City?…
This is a hard post to write because a lot of people who I care about and respect are very invested in and excited about the recent news that Richmond is one of the winners of the National Civic League’s “All-America City” award.
First, I want to sa…
June 20th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Not sure I see the downside to this effort. I mean, sure, the designation isn’t anything like a panacea. But I can’t see that it does any harm. Some good kids worked hard and did something nice for the city. Maybe if there is evidence that this effort took away resources and energy from other projects that would have been undertaken but for the All America City project.
June 21st, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Very interesting discussion… glad that it is taking place. I’ve wondered some of the same things in terms of what exactly this designation means. While it may mainly be just a label, I do think there’s something “substantive” here. Richmond has a self-esteem problem. We’ve heard stories about the hospital rolling out the red carpet to recruit a physician, only to have a local store clerk undermine those efforts by asking the person “Why would you ever want to live here?”
I think the adage “You are what you say you are” applies here. Sure, there are many areas that we can and need to improve about our community. But Aaron is right; small things matter. I hope we see “All America City” plastered everywhere and use every last ounce of marketing potential from this. How can we ever expect others to think highly of Richmond if we don’t have pride in it ourselves?
June 21st, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Aaron — Thanks for your comments, and yes I do agree that many small efforts will make a difference. I simply find it hard to see how a label is truly helpful.
Chris — I’d like to embrace the notion that a “new idea” will help Richmond; however, the All America designation simply isn’t a new idea. Not in and of itself, not for Richmond. And, just to make it clear: I dont’ think I suggested that any effort that doesn’t involve all parties is worthless. I do suggest, however, that all constituents must be involved. From the enfranchised to the dis-enfranchised.
Doug - I guess I’m just a bit cynical. And I teach students from this area, so I hear much too often how cynical *they* are about efforts like this. I am willing to predict that more than one will say in a class discussion about making a difference (yes, I like having those): what good does this All America thing do? And another student will answer, well, the people who were involved with it felt good. And then another student will say, probably without mincing words: yeah, well, good for them, but it’s just a lot of baloney (and I paraphrase here). When that discussion happens — and if you know me as a teacher, you know I don’t direct these things, I will be sure to post it here.
On balance, I think the harm I see is in fostering false hopes, especially in our young people.
You didn’t say this in your comment, but I notice in the Pal-Item news reports that these youth are referred to as our future workforce, our sales people, etc. I desperately hope that they are more than that. The youth of this area, any area, have dreams and goals and hopes that go far beyond joining a work force, getting good at sales. Let’s set our sights a lot higher than that. Please.
Rob - I admire the enthusiasm behind the effort to get the All-America label, and I do hope you are right that this designation will foster some civic pride. That will certainly help. I am the first person to publicly say that I love Richmond, that I want to see Richmond succeed, and that there are many many good reasons to live and stay and grow here. However, perhaps because I am a writer, and know how words can be used and misused too, I know that words are not enough.